Garage rates

[ll]

With all of the price comparison sites on the go now, I was wondering if there was much difference between garages hourly rates. Also are the cheaper? non franchised garages able to carry out work with approved parts without invalidating any manufacturers warranty.

[sheepshagger]

If you have a vauxhall I would recomend taking it anywhere but the Vauxhall dealership in Lerwick

[Piddly]

If you have a vauxhall I would recomend taking it anywhere but the Vauxhall dealership in Lerwick

 

 

I've had a Vauxhall for the past 4 years, Station Garage does my servicing and i can't say that there billling has been unfair. Grantfield Garage on the other hand, not so good, the auld folk put their car in for a minor repair and it was 2 months before they got it back again with a £300 bill to boot, the car also had to go in another 2 times after that because of the same fault, bloody disgrace.

[sheepshagger]

I bought a van fae station garage under waranty, after 2 days I went back to tell them there was a problem their young mechanic agreed but the foreman did not I was stonewalled every time I went back with it. Low and behold when I went for an MOT at Jims Garage, the very problem I had been complaining about was what failed it on its MOT, by this time of course the waranty had run out.

 

If your car was bought new I think the price of the service for the first few years is set by Vauxhall

[ll]

Maybe prices are 'set' by manufacturer, which is why you are charged between 5 and 10 poundss for filling up washer bottle (even if full) and 'disposing' of old oil when it is burned in workshop bogey to keep the mechanics nice and warm. I don't know if £60 + VAT is run of the mill for hourly rates or if this is a one of the higher rates. Someone mentioned that Southend Motors was pretty reasonable, but not sure what the rate was.

[robbiet24]

The best garage i have used is hursons in ollaberry its a bit out of the way but they get the work done very quickly and the prices are very good. i put my car there for an MOT expecting it to take more than a week but it was fixed and MOT'd ready to go 3 days after putting it there

[number 7]

most garages these days employ fitters or techs not mechanics . so every customer has to fit the bill for them throwing on parts left right & centre , gone are the days of mechanics stripping down parts and servicing them !

[scotto]

beats me what garage will charge you £5 to £10 for filling up your screenwash...i think thats a slight exaggeration!

Also most parts on cars are now electronic or sealed units that cant be stripped and repaired. Its not like old cars that had simple parts that could just be opened up easily and the worn out parts replaced. Times have moved on since then!

[Ghostrider]

^^ Which means the maker, and only the maker sells another unit everytime one goes faulty, for far more too than they could charge for the older type of servicable parts. You can bet such things could be made to a far better standard, but why bother, if you can get away with selling a second one during the lifetime of the vehicle

 

Don't forget also that service intervals, and included service items are set by the makers too. Are all of the items in them really necessary, and/or at such frequency?!? Probably not, but why ruin a good earner by going all honest and realistic on everyone.

 

Then make the warranty period a bit longer, and everyone thinks they're on to a good thing. No chance, all that is is tying folk to having to buy and fit a certain amount of stuff at the makers set price, so as not to invalidate the so called "warranty".

 

Its all a mugs game.

[Rasmie]

I read somewhere that car parts are designed to last for about 5 years only. After that bits start to go.

Having had a couple of citroens I notice that after they are about 6 or 7 years old then the engine diagnostics keep throwing out warnings.

It may be that it is getting cheaper to buy new? but scrapping a vehicle that has a good body and a good engine seems a waste of the planet's resources!

 

If the parts are now sealed or modular, then you would think that replacing a unit would save on the labour costs. I.e. wouldn't so much need a mechanic as a fitter?

[unlinkedstudent]

Maybe prices are 'set' by manufacturer, which is why you are charged between 5 and 10 poundss for filling up washer bottle (even if full) and 'disposing' of old oil when it is burned in workshop bogey to keep the mechanics nice and warm. I don't know if £60 + VAT is run of the mill for hourly rates or if this is a one of the higher rates. Someone mentioned that Southend Motors was pretty reasonable, but not sure what the rate was.

 

Southend Motors are reasonable. I recently bought a Peugeot 306 via this site (ta very much) and, being the thicko I am, having learnt to drive before the days of ABS, power steering, central locking, etc., twit face me didn't realise I had left my parking lights on. Oooh, siren went off - wossat then? Ah, sound stopped when car door shut.

 

Oops, flattened battery. Mate got out jump leads and WHOOSH! Fan belt snaps and goes whizzing across the road. Ah, all this within 2 days of owning said vehicle.

 

Phone Billy at Southend Motors sez mate. So I did. He was at my gaff within the hour, ordered fan belt, picked car up next day and returned it later the same day.

 

The cost? Under £60.

 

He is servicing my beloved Chugger (well, it sounds like a tractor being a diesel) tomorrow and quoted £70 - £90 but I want him to look at another couple of bits.

 

1 1/2hrs labour was £36 re fan belt.

 

Not sure how that compares to other garages in Shetland but given that car was picked up and returned to my door, I was well happy.

 

Needless to say, I have not left my lights on since though LOL.